Languages & literature > Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane > Volume 3

GIL B L A 3 . jjf
his friends^ and whaf is very remarkable; nature
has endoed: him vtrith 'tHen rare talent of'fte’-
ieeding in all kinds of poetry .11 fie chiefly ey.ttl4
infetire; which is indeed hiS' main -ftrength. He
is not (like Luciliae) a muddy riverthat fsVeeps a-
Itaig with it abundance of llime; bat rather ttlfe
Tagus, that rolls over golddh1 faiids its' lirhpid
ftream.” Thou draw-eft, (faTd'T to Fatrictus)'
an agreeable pidture of-this fame batchelorj and t
don’t doubt that a perfon of -Arch merit has a
great number of envious enemies.”- “ All bar do-
thort (he replied) good as Well as bad, inveigh bit¬
terly againlt him. He ddHghts, fays- one, in bom-
baft, points, metaphors, and tranfpriifion. H:s'
verfes, faith another, are as erbfcure as thofef which1
the Salian prtefts fang in their proceftioni, and’
dvhtcli no body uhderflood. Others again find fault
with his compofing fometftnes fonnets or romances,
(bmetrmes comedies, ftanzas and acroftics ; as if he
had fooiifhly undertaken to eclipfe all the great maf¬
ters in their Own different ways. But all thefe effortd
Of jealoufy are baffled by'dmafe that is cherifhed by
all ranks of people, from the higheft to the loweft.
It was under this fkilful- mafter that I ferved my
appremicefhip, and I dare fay, it has appeared :
for, I have fo-happily imbibed his genius, that I
have already compofed fome detached pieces which
he would not blufh to father. I opened my ware,
(according to' his example) in the houfes of the
great, where I am wonderfully well received, and
have to do with people who are not difficult to
pleafe. ’Tis true, indeed, my fuccefsful beginning
has been of no differvice to my later dirmpofnions.
In fhort, I am beloved by feveral noblemen, and
in particular, live with the Duke de Medina Sidonia,
as Horace once lived with Maecenas, you fee (added
I 3 J^abri-